Forgive us for ab-ruptly interrupting your day to bring you this message: Patrick Stewart has abs at 75, and they're amazing!
The actor showed off his toned body while enjoying a drink on the beach to celebrate his Golden Globes nomination.
He caught up with ET on the red carpet Sunday, and shared the reason behind posting the image that has now garnered nearly 18,000 likes.
“It wasn’t the abs I was thinking of showing,” the actor explained to ET. “The pink shorts, the pink beach shoes and the pink cocktail I had in one hand — I was color coordinated and that was what it was really about.”
His secret to achieving perfect abs? Push-ups!
"It's that simple," Stewart told ET.
And the actor's on to something. The exercise is critical to obtaining a strong core, according to Adam Bornstein, CEO of Born Fitness.
"Everyone knows that planks are a good core exercise, but what they don't realize is that sometimes you can make subtle changes to a plank to create a more challenging exercise for your abs," Born told TODAY. "A pushup is a perfect example — it's essentially a plank with added movement, which will challenge more muscles, force your abs to work harder to keep your body stable and ultimately can burn more calories."
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But there are some important things that you should know, Bornstein says, to ensure you're doing the exercise correctly:
- Brace your abs (think about preparing to be punched in the gut), squeeze your glutes tight, and lower your body all the way to the floor.
- Pause for 1-2 seconds, and then press your body back up. Make sure you don't let your hips sag — don't do a partial range of motion where your chest goes to the floor and your butt stays in the air.
- If regular pushups are too tough, then start with planks, making sure you follow the same rules of keeping the muscles in your stomach and butt tight throughout. Hold for 10 to 30 seconds for each repetition.
Too hard? Need something just a tiny bit easier?
"If you want a variation of pushups to work your abs harder, trying doing T-pushups (where you rotate your body), or spiderman pushups, where you bring a knee up to your chest every time you lower your body to the floor," Bornstein said.